


11 - Lies

by Jillybeanjoy



Series: Venom [11]
Category: Venom (2018), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Break Up, M/M, Medication, Mental Illness, Night Terrors, Nightmares, PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, eddie gets shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 14:55:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18896911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jillybeanjoy/pseuds/Jillybeanjoy
Summary: Venom starts acting strangely and Eddie doesn’t know if he’s jealous of Chris or reacting to the new medications dan put them on.





	11 - Lies

“You’re married, aren’t you?” Chris fingers the tattoo on Eddies chest, both of them wrapped up in the comforters of Chris’ bed. 

Eddie bursts out laughing, “What? No.”

Chris flips backward dramatically, “Well, I don’t know!” 

Eddie shakes his head, “You don’t want to know.” He kisses the mop of curls on the top of his head and starts rummaging around for his boxers. 

**He asks a lot of questions.** Venom complains. **We’re hungry.**

Chris throws a pillow at his face just as he finds his boxers. “Well what kind of big secret could it be? You aren’t dying right? You don’t have some incurable cancer or something?”

“I’m not dying.” Eddie promises, throwing the pillow back. “You don’t want to know.”

Chris sighs. “Okay, I don’t want to know.” And lays on the bed for a moment before sitting back up again, “Does your roommate know?” 

Venom started to growl unenthusiastically **Hungry.**

Eddie finishes getting dressed as asks “Do you want coffee?” 

“Yes, please.” Chris moans. 

It’s been a tentative.... relationship, to say the least. They had group, they had their dinners and... desserts. Chris was a great source of comfort for Eddie that he was still in fact still normal. Still human. But Eddie couldn’t get over the lies.

So he just stopped telling them. Instead just decided to be honest that Chris didn’t know and he didn’t want to tell him. But as much as Venom liked Chris (or at least all the neuro-chemicals that came with him) Venom didn’t like being a secret. Or being quiet. 

Eddie started a pot of coffee and started snooping through the cabinets for something hopefully chocolate or potato based. After a moment he felt eyes on him and looked behind him to see Chris staring from the doorway, shaking his head. “There’s hash browns in the freezer.” He nods his head. 

Eddie gives him a smile and takes out the hash browns, the baking sheet and preheats the oven. 

“Did you know that a human could survive indefinitely on only potatoes and milk?” Chris asked. 

Venom scoffs **A human can. We need heads.**

Eddie tries to keep in his laughter as he leans against the counter, “You don’t say?” He says to both of them. 

“Yup,” Chris said walking toward him, “Just ask the Irish.” Eddie grabs his waist and pulls him closer to him. “Just promise me one thing?” 

Eddie let out a sharp breath, knowing another question about his secret was coming. “Yes?” 

”You’re not a serial killer?” He looks Eddie in the eyes. 

“Oh, no, you caught me.” 

* * *

**Eddie?**

Eddie can hear Venom pipe up from the back of his skull as they walk home in a light drizzle from Chris’ apartment. “What’s up?” He asks, shoving the Bluetooth into his ear. 

He can tell the symbiote was about to say something when he changed his mind. **Dan said to ingest the gross thing with breakfast.** He reminded. 

“Oh, fuck. Thanks.” Eddie said, pulling a pill bottle out of his jean pockets and taking one before shoving them back in. “You okay?” He asked. “You’ve been quiet.” 

Venom didn’t answer for a moment, and Eddie just listening to the sound of their footsteps while he waited. **Dan is helping us.**

“Yeah, He is.” Eddie agreed, unsure where this was going. 

**He found out and didn’t leave.**

Eddie gave an sad smile, “No, I don’t think Dan could leave anyone without helping them if they needed it.” He nervously ran his fingers through his hair. “Anne’s still pretty pissed though.” 

**She’ll come back.** Venom sounded sure. **She helps us to.**

“We’re really lucky to have them both.” 

It’s another couple blocks before Venom speaks up again. **Why don’t you tell Chris?**

Ah. That’s where this was going. Eddie wanted give some excuse about Chris running away. But Chris has already done that and Venom got them through. He wanted to say he was afraid of it being dangerous for Venom, but he trusted Chris and usually had a pretty good gut instinct. He tried to think of a million different reasons that would sound... better. “I like that he doesn’t know.” Eddie admitted, finally. 

Venom searched Eddies brain trying to understand but Eddie could feel him coming up at a loss. So he took a deep breath before continuing, “with Chris it’s almost like I can pretend I’m just a normal human being. Like everything I’m going through is just a stupid PTSD thing, not real life and death, aliens and monsters.”

“Even before they knew you were back it wasn’t like that with Anne and Dan. They... they knew what had happened even if they didn’t know what was happening and it made everything about that. But with Chris, he doesn’t know what happened or what’s happening. I can just... pretend.” 

He can feel Venom deflate inside him. “V, please talk to me.” 

**You don’t want to be an us, Eddie?**

Eddie rubs his sternum, wishing he could somehow comfort the ooze while it was inside of him. “I love being an us. But it’s confusing sometimes. So sometimes... I just like to pretend that I’m only a me.” 

He took another deep breath “But that doesn’t change anything. We’re still a we. We will always be a we. I will never lose you.” He promised. And he never meant a promise more. Not when he proposed to Anne, or said anything in his life. And he tried to open the walls between Venom and himself temporarily so that Venom could see that. See the truth in that. 

**Pretending isn’t forever?** The question was small, unsure.

“The only thing that is forever is us.” 

Venom was quiet most of the day. Eddie was used to Venom giving constant commentary on everything and anything, but he could still feel Venom there in the corner of his mind, focused. So Eddie tried to give his partner some space. He was even able to used it to his advantage and got more caught up in his work that he expected. He had almost all the sources he needs to expose this politician. Senator Edward Mitchel.

It wasn’t until it was almost five in the evening that he realized they hadn’t eaten since yesterday. 

“Hungry, V?” Eddie asked, waiting for the inevitable complaints about being ravenous- starving. Venom hummed. “What do you want?” Venom internally shrugged like he didn’t care. 

That made Eddie furrow his eyebrows. He walked home and on his way picked up a single slice of pizza without any complaints from venom. 

He was almost to his apartment when Dan called. “Hey Dan,” he answered 

“Hey, Eddie just checking in to see how the medication is going.” 

“Yeah, about that...” Eddie fiddled with his keys in the door, and finally unlocking it entered. “I feel fine but Venoms been real quiet, and neither of us have had much of an appetite.” 

Venom poked a head out of Eddies shirt. **“We are fine, I’ve been watching his vitals all day. His biochemistry seems to be back to when we first bonded.”** He said into the phone. Eddie nudged Venoms head away from the phone and put it on speaker. 

“Okay, well that might just be temporary as your body gets used to it so if it’s alright with both of you I’m going to keep you on it. But I’ll call around the same time tomorrow to see how you’re doing.” 

“Sounds good to me,” Eddie said

“To us,”

* * *

_Eddie walks around the Life Foundation laboratory, snooping while he waits for Dora to get back. Takes a few pictures with his phone for good measure._

_But Dora doesn’t come back. Where is she? He looks into empty holding cell after empty holding cell. “I don’t know, what do you think V?” He asks aloud._

_But Venom doesn’t answer. It’s complete silence._

_Eddies heart starts racing, “Venom, you there buddy? You’re scaring me.”_

_Nothing. He runs out of the laboratory and starts searching for Dora. She’ll have answers. She’ll know where Venom is._

_Her and that guard were right out here. But it’s empty. “Dora!” Eddie calls out. He knows he’s being stupid, he’s going to get caught, but honestly he’d be glad to see even security right now. Just anybody. “Venom!”_

_The building is boiling hot. Eddie rips off his sweat soaked hoodie and throws it on the floor. “Venom!” He’s practically screaming. His skin hurts from how hot it is in here. He turns around there’s a wall of smoke, and he can barely see the light of fire through it. “Oh, fuck” he breathes and bolts in the other direction._

_“Venom!” He calls, opening every door he sees and giving it a quick glance before moving on to the next one. “Come on buddy we got to get out of here, this place is on fucking fire.”_

_He opens a door and wall of fire erupts from the door way in a backdraft, sending him flying back. He hits the wall and slides down to the floor. His whole body is covered in flames. He tries to pat it down but he’s just overwhelmed with pain. He’s too weak, to overcome with agony. He can’t do this alone. He needs Venom. Where is Venom?_

_Eddie looks up and sees Carlton Drake holding a large glass container and inside he recognizes his symbiote looking as desperate as he did in the MRI room the first time they were separated. “Have a nice life” Drake grins and takes a step back, letting the flame consume both him and Venom._

Eddies shoots to a sitting position in his bed, gasping for air. He kicks his feet out, leaning over the side of his bed, trying to focus on his breathing but he’s hyperventilating, he’s getting dizzy. He’s about the lose consciousness when Venom masks him and takes complete control of his body, forcing the breath in and out of his lungs in perfect timing. After a few minutes of focusing on their breath Venom asks **Are you good?**

Eddie nods their head and Venom falls away, retreating back inside Eddie’s body. 

**We need to tell Dan you had another night terror.** Venom told him. 

Eddie wipes sweat off of his face, he’s absolutely drenched with it. “I’ll tell him when he calls.” He promises. He looks at his alarm clocks. 4:47am.

He forces himself to stand and get a shower. Dressing on autopilot. Lost in thought. Then after brushing his teeth he slips on some water from the shower and with a BANG! His head hits the corner of the sink. He sinks to the floor. 

“Owwwww” Eddie moans, he grabs the back of his head and feels blood. Then surprise, “I’m shocked you didn’t catch me there bud, everything okay?” 

Venoms black tendrils cover the bleeding spot on his head, healing it. **I’ve got you.**

“You sure you’re okay?” He asks, internally probing at the alien, trying to get a sense of what’s going on with him lately. 

**You’ve got to be more careful, Eddie.** Venom chided. **You humans are so fragile. How did you ever survive before I came along?**

Eddie laughed at himself, thinking about how many times he’s been in the hospital before Venom came along to be his own person hospital. “I managed.” Then he got serious and said “promise you’re okay?” 

**Promise.**

* * *

Eddie had one more person he had to talk to before he could write his story and get it in. Eliza Watkins. She used to be a secretary to Senator Edward Mitchel and said she had proof that he helped use his political power to not only get a guilty man off Scott free who bought trafficked people to be lab rats for some messed up experiments but also framed an innocent man to take the fall for it. 

He was meeting her at a storage facility just outside the city. 

This was the kind of job he was made for. Uncovering the truth. Exposing it for the world to see. Yeah he pissed off a lot of people and it got a little dangerous but now that he had Venom he didn’t have to worry about that. As he walked into the facility he unwrapped a Hershey kiss and held it up, offering it to his symbiote. But he no tendril came up to grab it.

“V, you okay?” He mumbled. 

Venom squirmed inside him, so Eddie knew he was still there, but otherwise didn’t respond. 

”Okay, I’m calling Dan as soon as I get this information.” Eddie was getting worried. They usually eat more than humanly possible, but Eddie hasn’t been able to stomach more than one small meal a day. And Venom never wanted anything. And Venom is _always_ hungry. Plus there was the bathroom incident the day before. Since being with Venom he’s slipped a few times, or almost walked into traffic once, but Venom always caught him. Besides he hasn’t had a single night without a night terror yet, and he’s sure the only reason they haven’t had another panic attack is because Eddie has avoided almost every possible trigger. But he couldn’t keep that up forever. If the medicine wasn’t even going to work, it wasn’t worth these side effects on Venom. 

Eddie stopped in front of the correct storage container and knocked. The door slowly opened and Eliza looked out and waved Eddie in. 

As soon as Eddie crossed the threshold he was grabbed. A pair of arms holding down each of his limbs while someone else stuffs a gag in his mouth. His eyes went wild. _Venom! Mask!_

Someone put a bag over his head. He could feel Venom hitting against his insides, but he wasn’t coming out. **I... can’t.** Venom sounded as surprised as he was. 

_Now really isn’t the time for performance anxiety bud!_ He could feel himself being tied roughly to a chair. Out of the darkness a fist slammed into his jaw. Eddie groaned against the gag. 

Another fist slammed into his stomach without warning. _Venom!_ Eddie called out with everything he could in his mind. 

Venom was slamming inside him, unable to move from inside to outside. 

He heard a voice growl in his ear. “Leave Senator Mitchel alone.” Eddie hurt the gunshot before he felt it. Saw the bright flash through the cloth bag over his eyes. But felt it he did. He screamed with everything in his body against the gag as he and the chair fell to the ground. The bastards shot him right in the knee cap. “Or we’ll come back and the next bullet will go through your head.” 

He heard multiple pairs of footsteps leave the room, close the door, and lock it. 

Oh fuck. Oh _fuck._ The blood was beginning to pool around him. He had told his boss where he was meeting his lead like he always did but she wouldn’t notice for hours, if not days and with this gunshot wound he didn’t think they would make it. 

Eddie yelled with all his might against the gag, trying to call for help. Venom was freaking out inside him, trying to get out so that he could heal him. 

Eddie has to concentrate really hard to get a coherent thought through to Venom. _Venom. Venom! Venom stopped slamming himself around but was still practically vibrating with anxiety. _You can’t get out but can you take control? Give me a little extra strength so I can get out of this chair?__

__

**I will try.**

Eddie tried to make it as easy as possible, tried to give up all control so Venom could take it. It took a few minutes and a couple tries but while he couldn’t seem to take the wheel so to speak Venom concentrated himself into Eddies arms and together they were able to break the ropes tying him. Eddie took a pocket knife out of his pocket and cut the ropes off his feet as well. Then he used the rope to try to make a turnicate for his leg to slow down the bleeding. 

He looked at his phone but he had no bars. the storage container must have blocked the signal. With a groan and using all of his strength Eddie stood up slowly and hobbled to the door, unlocked it and took a few steps out before collapsing to the ground. 

He pulled out his phone once more. “Dan or 911?” He asked, but he got no answer. Not even the feel of Venom moving inside him. “Venom? Venom! Can you hear me?”

He dials Dan and waits an eternity while it rings. “Come on Ven, you promised you wouldn’t leave me again.” 

Finally Dan picks up, “Hey Eddie, I...”

“I’ve been shot and Venom isn’t responding.” Eddie interrupted. 

“Shit. Okay, where are you?” 

* * *

“Venom, Venom wake up.” Eddie has been trying to rouse Venom ever since he first realized the symbiote wasn’t responding yesterday. 

Dan enters the room. “Hey Eddie, anything?” Eddie shakes his head. “I really think we should get you into surgery.” 

“No. Just let me wait until Venom wakes up. He can heal this no problem.” Eddie said. “Besides if regular medication is messing with him like this I definitely don’t want whatever hard core stuff you use for surgery.” 

Dan ran him fingers through his hair. “Well I have had to give you what would OD anyone else in order for you to even feel it.” He put a hand on Eddies shoulders. “I don’t think I’d be doing that for the surgery.”

“No surgery. No more medications.” He said “I won’t lose Venom.”

“Are you sure Venom is there?” Dan asked hesitantly. 

“He promised. He wouldn’t break his promise.” Eddie said into this hands. 

Dan left, resigned. 

“Come on Venom, just let me know you’re alright. I’ll give you all the chocolate in the world.” He was begging now. 

He waited. 

Nothing.

With a groan he flung his head back into the pillow when he hears a knock at the door. He looks up, expecting Dan again, but instead it’s Chris. “Hey,” Eddie greets. 

“If you thought I had questions before...” Chris motioned to the hospital bed, laughing. Then he walked over and sat on the edge. “Anne told me you were here, but she didn’t say why, so I’ve come up with quite a few explanations. One of which including time travel and the Kennedy assassination.”

Eddie couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you really want to know?” 

He can see Chris consider it. Chris knows that this time, just this once, all he has to do is say “yes” and Eddie will tell him. Tell him the truth. “Do you want to tell me?” He has nothing but trust in his eyes. 

“No,” Eddie sighed truthfully “I have a feeling I’m going to lose you either way.” 

Chris cupped Eddies cheek with one hand, tracing his stubble with his thumb. “Not everything that ends is lost. You’re still pretty close with Anne and she’s an ex isn’t she?” 

Eddie smiled sadly. Looking down at Chris’ hand on his face before looking back in those hazel eyes. “I’m not married. But there is someone else.” 

Chris let out a breath through his nose and closed his eyes. “They shoot you when they find out about me?” Chris looked up with his own melancholy grin playing along. “Do I need to go on the run or something now?” 

Eddie gave a light laugh. “No, nothing like that... honestly I had no idea I felt this way until I got shot. Until I almost lost him forever.” He rubbed his sternum with his knuckles. “God, I love him and I almost really fucked everything up.” 

Chris nodded, kissed Eddies forehead and dropped his hand. “So get him back. Get better” he gestured to Eddies leg “and I’ll see you at group.” 

Eddie gave him a wordless smile and a wave as he watched him walk out. He closed his eyes and mumbled to himself like a prayer _“Venom. Venom. Venom. Come back. Wake up. Please.”_

**Here.**

“Venom! Thank God you are alright! You scared the fuck out of me!” All the worry on Eddies chest turned to elation at hearing his symbiote again. 

He feels the ever so slightest movement in his chest. **Tired.**

Eddie rubs his sternum with his fist, unsure how else to show affection to his alien when he’s under his skin. “That’s fine buddy, you sleep however long you need. I’ll be fine.”

**Eddie,** venom starts, he feels so weak in Eddie’s chest, that Eddies throat catches, and worry starts to creep back in. **Sorry.**

Tears spill from Eddies eyes, “you’ve got nothing to be sorry for. Nothing.” 


End file.
